Is the Covid-19 pandemic a Tipping Point?
Are oil and gas industries drying up? Is room being made for the next phase?
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Do-US-Shale-Drillers-Deserve-To-Exist-In-Free-Markets.html
Very interesting read. ‘Free markets’? In oil and gas? Hardly. It’s been at the heart of modern mercantilism, nationalism and economic imperialism for a very long time and so is greatly tied to governments. Not just Albertan, but North American petroleum has been living on ‘borrowed’ time. Flawed economic thinking behind this modern mercantilist ‘produce more, profits come later’ exploit is the problem, leading to untenable and unprofitable modern imperialism and corporate socialism. Plain old profit versus cost and debt load, you know free markets, will fix this, but it’s going to hurt. Thanks Ron, for this link.
And for Alberta?
And this for the North Atlantic
Is it possible that now, maybe, we have to change. That finally by accident or design OR the Mr Big’s of the world already have the alternative energy sources and are just waiting for the right time to put them in place. The Covid-19 pandemic has provided the shattering dislocation required and for all intent and purposes has shut down the global economy. Now would be a good time to implement structural changes. The unemployed oil workers and those also tied with the industry as support will have to be reallocated into something else and in the interim perhaps a guaranteed minimum income for all will be put in place.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/universal-basic-income-covid-coronavirus-pandemic-1.5536144
Update the next morning… Can’t even give it away now. Western Canada Select (tar sands oil) went into negative values overnight – theoretically meaning the oil companies will pay you to take it away. Can there be a better time than this to make the hard turn move to diversification? Investors who have the money and won’t go near the oil patch will put their money into diversification ventures. Too bad we have such an unimaginative leader at the helm in Alberta.